People who call Rei "emotionless" need to actually watch the show

For serious and at times in-depth discussions only, covering the original TV series, the movies End of Evangelion and Death & Rebirth.

Moderator: Board Staff

Forum rules
By visiting this forum, you agree to read the rules for discussion and abide by them.
Angel
Banned
Age: 39
Posts: 65
Joined: Sep 10, 2015

People who call Rei "emotionless" need to actually watch the show

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Angel » Sun Oct 30, 2022 11:30 pm

SPOILER: Show
Image


1) Yes, I assembled this myself

2) The images have been arranged such that each 2x2 block still shows 4 separate emotions/expressions

3) I'm thinking of cropping/magnifying the central panel. Let me know if you think I should.
I'm just here for the fan art.

Blockio#938367 wrote:it will be in your best interest to shut up.

wissencraft
Embryo
Posts: 7
Joined: Sep 06, 2022
Gender: Male

Re: People who call Rei "emotionless" need to actually watch the show

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby wissencraft » Fri Dec 02, 2022 12:21 am

Ever heard the phrase "The exception proves the rule"? I think it applies very well here.

orcot
Ramiel
Ramiel
User avatar
Posts: 305
Joined: Jul 01, 2020

Re: People who call Rei "emotionless" need to actually watch the show

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby orcot » Fri Dec 02, 2022 1:59 am

Both Armisael (in universe) and the writers don't like the term that she is emotionless, it's more that Rei has problems displaying emotions and making connections and this makes her lonely and that makes her sad.

C.T.1290
Zeruel
Zeruel
Age: 33
Posts: 837
Joined: Apr 22, 2017
Location: U.S.A.
Gender: Male
Contact:

Re: People who call Rei "emotionless" need to actually watch the show

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby C.T.1290 » Fri Dec 02, 2022 11:14 am

View Original Postorcot wrote:Both Armisael (in universe) and the writers don't like the term that she is emotionless, it's more that Rei has problems displaying emotions and making connections and this makes her lonely and that makes her sad.

I blame all that on Gendo for suppressing her emotions.
“This is the way”-The Mandalorian

orcot
Ramiel
Ramiel
User avatar
Posts: 305
Joined: Jul 01, 2020

Re: People who call Rei "emotionless" need to actually watch the show

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby orcot » Fri Dec 02, 2022 1:01 pm

View Original PostC.T.1290 wrote:
View Original Postorcot#938098 wrote:Both Armisael (in universe) and the writers don't like the term that she is emotionless, it's more that Rei has problems displaying emotions and making connections and this makes her lonely and that makes her sad.

I blame all that on Gendo for suppressing her emotions.


That is partialy true for sure, but Gendo has his own demons and he is not to sole reason it's always easiest to blame other people for your mental problems, Rei isn't a realistic portrayel more a critique that someone who portrayes admirable Japanese female characteristics from the outside.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Japan#Behavioral_expectations
From the outside Rei shows these characteristics
modesty, tidiness, courtesy, compliance, and self-reliance.[12] Modesty extended to the effective use of silence in both daily conversations and activities. Tidiness included personal appearance and a clean home. Courtesy, another trait, was called upon from women in domestic roles and in entertaining guests, extended to activities such as preparing and serving tea.


But it's a front Whilst Rei has clean clothes afther the facade she is as much a mess as Asuka is. Her introvertion is basickly Selective mutism apart from the cook Rei never talks to anyone she doesn't work for or is a fellow pilot, for example she never talks to Kensuke. Rei can genuinly not express herself in a proper manner.
So she was always going to be portrayed in this manner and honnestly her relation with Gendo has never been worked out properly. And if it was Rei would stop resonating with so many people, Anno himself is also wrong abouth Rei in his interviews, but you can't forget that he didn't invent the character neither in look nor character it is Sadamoto's work (yes this includes the Anime)

Blockio
Full/Super Moderator
Full/Super Moderator
User avatar
Age: 24
Posts: 3839
Joined: Dec 03, 2017
Location: vtuber hell
Gender: Male

Re: People who call Rei "emotionless" need to actually watch the show

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Blockio » Fri Dec 02, 2022 4:13 pm

This is honestly such a nonstarter of a thread. It strawmans a position noone here on the board has seriously held in years, posts a collection of screencaps as proof (not evidence, as self-sufficient proof) and caps it off with a confrontational to the point of bordering on clickbaity title, to evident success.

I really thought y'all were better than this
I can see why Gendo hired Misato to do the actual commanding. He tried it once and did an appalling job. ~ AWinters
Your point of view is horny, and biased. ~ glitz2hard
What about titty-ten? ~ Reichu
The movies function on their own terms. If people can't accept them on those terms, and keep expecting them to be NGE, then they probably should have realized a while ago that they weren't going to have a good time. ~ Words of wisdom courtesy of Reichu

orcot
Ramiel
Ramiel
User avatar
Posts: 305
Joined: Jul 01, 2020

Re: People who call Rei "emotionless" need to actually watch the show

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby orcot » Sat Dec 03, 2022 2:04 am

Sight I think I get what your meaning but thank you for your contribtion

nerv bae
Israfel
Israfel
User avatar
Posts: 479
Joined: Sep 06, 2021
Location: USA
Gender: Male

Re: People who call Rei "emotionless" need to actually watch the show

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby nerv bae » Sat Dec 03, 2022 7:00 am

View Original PostBlockio wrote:posts a collection of screencaps as proof (not evidence, as self-sufficient proof)

I agree this thread is a nonstarter, but I actually do think the screencaps are proof of the thread's (dumb) premise!

Signed, /guy who posts shitloads of screencaps as proof of stuff in the Rebuild subforum/ :tongue:

AWinters
Shamshel
Shamshel
User avatar
Age: 37
Posts: 264
Joined: Aug 12, 2020
Location: Tyne and Wear, England
Gender: Female

Re: People who call Rei "emotionless" need to actually watch the show

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby AWinters » Mon Dec 12, 2022 8:18 pm

By definition, she's alexithymic.
This means she feels emotions, but they don't always make sense to her, nor do the emotions of other people.

Angel
Banned
Age: 39
Posts: 65
Joined: Sep 10, 2015

Re: People who call Rei "emotionless" need to actually watch the show

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Angel » Sun Dec 18, 2022 1:30 pm

View Original Postorcot wrote:
modesty, tidiness, courtesy, compliance, and self-reliance.[12] Modesty extended to the effective use of silence in both daily conversations and activities. Tidiness included personal appearance and a clean home. Courtesy, another trait, was called upon from women in domestic roles and in entertaining guests, extended to activities such as preparing and serving tea.


The only one of those traits that Rei shows is self-reliance... :um:

View Original PostBlockio wrote:This is honestly such a nonstarter of a thread. It strawmans a position noone here on the board has seriously held in years


1) It's not a strawman. "Emotionless" and "submissive" are probably the two words most frequently used to describe Rei over the past 25 years in English-language Evangelion communities.

2) If no one on the forum has held this belief in years, then nobody should get butthurt about it.

View Original PostBlockio wrote: caps it off with a confrontational to the point of bordering on clickbaity title


How dare I act "confrontational" to people who, according to you, don't even come to this forum :rolleyes:

View Original PostC.T.1290 wrote:I blame all that on Gendo for suppressing her emotions.


View Original PostAWinters wrote:By definition, she's alexithymic.
This means she feels emotions, but they don't always make sense to her, nor do the emotions of other people.


There is another possibility: Many emotional reactions are neither innate nor learned from personal experience, but are instead learned from observing the behaviors of others; for example, if a person has arachnophobia, it's not because humans are genetically programmed to be afraid of spiders, nor because that person has ever been bitten by one, but because they saw other people react to spiders with fear. Rei was raised in an environment where she was never subjected to anything that would provoke an emotional response and she rarely if ever observed other people displaying emotions (aside from that one incident with Naoko Akagi). So, there are some emotions that she genuinely doesn't experience in situations where other people would (she's not embarrassed to be seen naked by a boy she barely knows, for example). In other situations, however, she's being subjected for the very first time to situations that provoke biologically innate emotional responses, so they can be overwhelming and confusing for her.
I'm just here for the fan art.

Blockio#938367 wrote:it will be in your best interest to shut up.

AWinters
Shamshel
Shamshel
User avatar
Age: 37
Posts: 264
Joined: Aug 12, 2020
Location: Tyne and Wear, England
Gender: Female

Re: People who call Rei "emotionless" need to actually watch the show

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby AWinters » Sun Dec 18, 2022 4:47 pm

Alexithymia can also be caused by environmental factors just as you described. As an analogy (due to a lack of better wording right now): The condition is more like a symptom, rather than a disorder, thus I think the definition fits her well.

I agree that part of how she interacts with the world is down to mimicking the few people she was exposed to growing up, which is how children naturally learn and develop.

Although, you brought up another good point about her reaction to being seen naked. This could be a biblical reference.
Adam and Eve didn't know they were naked and embarrassed until they'd eaten the fruit of knowledge.
Maybe only the Lilim know when they're naked.

Angel
Banned
Age: 39
Posts: 65
Joined: Sep 10, 2015

Re: People who call Rei "emotionless" need to actually watch the show

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Angel » Sun Dec 18, 2022 6:29 pm

View Original PostAWinters wrote:Although, you brought up another good point about her reaction to being seen naked. This could be a biblical reference.
Adam and Eve didn't know they were naked and embarrassed until they'd eaten the fruit of knowledge.
Maybe only the Lilim know when they're naked.


It helps to remember that Anno threw Christian and Kabbalist imagery into the show just because it was "cool" and "exotic", not because there was a lot of deeper symbolism to it. Any symbolism that does exist in the show would be the kind that is aimed at a Japanese audience.
I'm just here for the fan art.

Blockio#938367 wrote:it will be in your best interest to shut up.

Blockio
Full/Super Moderator
Full/Super Moderator
User avatar
Age: 24
Posts: 3839
Joined: Dec 03, 2017
Location: vtuber hell
Gender: Male

Re: People who call Rei "emotionless" need to actually watch the show

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Blockio » Mon Dec 19, 2022 9:37 am

That is not exactly correct, either. The thing you are repeating there is the result of about two decades of people repeating an out of context interview snippet. The actual intention of the quote was to mean that the symbolism has no religious meaning, that it was not supposed to serve as commentary on real world practices. Of course it has meaning to the show as a vessel of visual storytelling, otherwise it would not be there.
I can see why Gendo hired Misato to do the actual commanding. He tried it once and did an appalling job. ~ AWinters
Your point of view is horny, and biased. ~ glitz2hard
What about titty-ten? ~ Reichu
The movies function on their own terms. If people can't accept them on those terms, and keep expecting them to be NGE, then they probably should have realized a while ago that they weren't going to have a good time. ~ Words of wisdom courtesy of Reichu

nerv bae
Israfel
Israfel
User avatar
Posts: 479
Joined: Sep 06, 2021
Location: USA
Gender: Male

Re: People who call Rei "emotionless" need to actually watch the show

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby nerv bae » Mon Dec 19, 2022 9:50 am

View Original PostAngel wrote:3) I'm thinking of cropping/magnifying the central panel. Let me know if you think I should.

i keep asking myself whether or not Rei really has a hexagon mouth

AWinters
Shamshel
Shamshel
User avatar
Age: 37
Posts: 264
Joined: Aug 12, 2020
Location: Tyne and Wear, England
Gender: Female

Re: People who call Rei "emotionless" need to actually watch the show

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby AWinters » Mon Dec 19, 2022 11:05 am

What are the chances that Rei was genetically constructed from Adam, not Lilith? In this case, she would be of the seed of life, not the seed of knowledge and therefore, unaware of her nakedness (as according to Genesis).

Blockio
Full/Super Moderator
Full/Super Moderator
User avatar
Age: 24
Posts: 3839
Joined: Dec 03, 2017
Location: vtuber hell
Gender: Male

Re: People who call Rei "emotionless" need to actually watch the show

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Blockio » Mon Dec 19, 2022 11:29 am

In NTE, she kind of is, given that the boundary between Adam and Lilith is a lot less clearly defined there; in NGE, no. It would not make sense for her to fuse with Lilith as her place of origin if she actually came from Adam
I can see why Gendo hired Misato to do the actual commanding. He tried it once and did an appalling job. ~ AWinters
Your point of view is horny, and biased. ~ glitz2hard
What about titty-ten? ~ Reichu
The movies function on their own terms. If people can't accept them on those terms, and keep expecting them to be NGE, then they probably should have realized a while ago that they weren't going to have a good time. ~ Words of wisdom courtesy of Reichu

Angel
Banned
Age: 39
Posts: 65
Joined: Sep 10, 2015

Re: People who call Rei "emotionless" need to actually watch the show

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Angel » Tue Dec 20, 2022 3:33 am

View Original PostAWinters wrote:What are the chances that Rei was genetically constructed from Adam, not Lilith? In this case, she would be of the seed of life, not the seed of knowledge and therefore, unaware of her nakedness (as according to Genesis).


There is nothing in NGE called a "seed of life" or "seed of knowledge", nor is there any sign that Rei inherited any genetic material from Lilith.
I'm just here for the fan art.

Blockio#938367 wrote:it will be in your best interest to shut up.

AWinters
Shamshel
Shamshel
User avatar
Age: 37
Posts: 264
Joined: Aug 12, 2020
Location: Tyne and Wear, England
Gender: Female

Re: People who call Rei "emotionless" need to actually watch the show

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby AWinters » Tue Dec 20, 2022 3:37 am

I meant tree of life and tree of knowledge.

Angel
Banned
Age: 39
Posts: 65
Joined: Sep 10, 2015

Re: People who call Rei "emotionless" need to actually watch the show

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Angel » Tue Dec 20, 2022 3:47 am

There is also no Tree of Life or Tree of Knowledge. Do you mean fruit? The NGE versions of those things don't seem to have much to do with Adam or Lilith. There's some dialog indicating that S2 engines are the fruit of life and the Lancea Longini is the fruit of knowledge but it's not really clear.
I'm just here for the fan art.

Blockio#938367 wrote:it will be in your best interest to shut up.

nerv bae
Israfel
Israfel
User avatar
Posts: 479
Joined: Sep 06, 2021
Location: USA
Gender: Male

Re: People who call Rei "emotionless" need to actually watch the show

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby nerv bae » Tue Dec 20, 2022 8:28 am

Some relevant wiki material:

Tier 3 is where the information starts to get a little less reliable, and must be carefully checked against the evidence presented in the series. For instance, the Red Cross Book has:

"[Angels (SHITO)] Beings originated from the source of life called Lilith. They take various sizes and shapes: from a giant octahedron to a minute Angel the size of bacteria, or even a "shadow" Angel without tangible form. Borrowing Fuyutsuki's words in episode 26', it seems that Angels are beings which got the "Fruit of Life" whereas humanity got the "Fruit of Wisdom". In other words, "Angels" are another form of humankind with the same potential as humans. Thus, humans are the 18th Angel."

The first line of the above is blatantly incorrect because it contradicts the evidence presented in the series that Adam gave birth to the Angels. For instance, Kaworu in ep. 24, call Adam "our Mother" (before realizing that he is actually looking at Lilith). The above reference as to the Angels origin is therefore not canon. This does not mean, however that you should throw out the Red Cross Book altogether. It should be considered reliable in places where it does support the evidence presented in the series, for instance:

"[Rei Ayanami] The First Children, and dedicated pilot of Eva-00. A young girl who apparently lacks emotions. ..."

The above is perfectly in keeping with what we see in the series and is thus canon.

So Fuyutsuki's EoE dialogue gets at the Fruits too? Further, lol at the emotionless Rei bit.


Return to “Evangelion TV Series + EoE Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests